The invention is concerned with a protective head covering to be worn while enjoying the sport of skiing. When skiing, one often falls due to the slippery surface one is skiing on and also due to the unpredictable topography ahead of one's course. It is also clear that varying levels of skill are involved when skiing. The problem is, when skiing, that a number of falls or spills occur that can hardly be prevented. These falls can be quite hurtful, particularly on a well traveled run where the snow has compacted. These falls or spills can lead to severe injuries particularly to the head of a skier and more particularly to the back of the head because many falls are occurring in this manner.
Therefore, it is desirable to wear a protective head covering while skiing. Many protective head coverings are known in various sports such as football, racquet ball, boxing, karate, while riding bicycles, motor-cycles, skate-boards, roller-skates or while roller-blading. However, all of these protective head coverings do not lend themselves very well while skiing because they are heavy, cumbersome and will obscure the vision of a skier. A skier needs a freedom of head movements for quickly evaluating a developing situation or for aiding in the person's balance. Therefore, effective head protective head coverings for skiers have not been developed and are not known.
Skiers wear knitted hat coverings that can assume various positions on the head, that is, higher up or pulled farther down including over the ears. A knitted brim can be attached to the lower portion of the knitted hat or the crown and be pulled up to thereby function as a head band or it can be pulled down over the ears. There are other known head coverings for skiers in the form of a baseball cap with a visor up front and flaps on the sides that can be pulled down over the ears or the flaps will extend all the way around the back of the head and function as a brim either up or down. While all of the above named head coverings protect against the cold, they are not capable of protecting against impacts to the head when falls or spills occur.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to create a head covering for skiers that accomplishes both, a protection against the cold as well as a protection against impacts to the head. The head covering of the invention will appear to the observer as the here-to-for known head covering including a fashionable appearance without realizing the presence of the secondary function. It is further emphasized that no hard or rigid parts are being used in the head covering of the invention. All the components or portions that are being used are made of pliable materials including the impact absorbing pad which is form retaining but still is flexible enough to conform to the shape of a head of a user without creating any discomforts. As a matter of fact, the presence of the pad can hardly be felt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,773 shows a head covering having been made of all pliable materials. However, it is quite different from the invention at hand in that the crown itself is made as a shell with impact absorbing pads placed therein.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,717384, 5,025,504, 5,269,026 and 5,289,591 all show head coverings that to a casual observer do not indicate that they also serve a secondary function of protecting the head of a wearer against impacts. However, in all of these prior art hats or head coverings this is accomplished by merely placing a hard liner or a cushion underneath the crown portion.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,675,846, 2,445,209, 4,646,367 and 5,031,246 all are concerned with placing a cushion or an impact resisting pad within their respective headbands around the head. This is not the object of the invention at hand.